FOX-HUNTING. 23 



entrancing parabola in the air, communicating to his 

 rider as near an approach to the sensation of flying 

 as mortal man can experience, and lands with a foot 

 to spare on the other side of the most dreaded 

 and historically disastrous impediment in the whole 

 country a good eighteen feet of open water. 



And now, perhaps, our friend realises the full 

 measure of his condensed happiness, not unmixed 

 with selfishness ; as perhaps he would own, while he 

 gallops along the flat meadow, not forgetting to pat 

 his horse, especially as he hears a faint " swish " from 

 the water, already one hundred yards in his rear ; 

 the result, as he knows, of the total immersion of 

 his nearest follower, which, as he also knows, will 

 probably bar the way to many more, for a " brook 

 with a man in it " is a frightful example, an ob- 

 jectionable and fear-inspiring spectacle to men and 

 horses alike, and there is not a bridge for miles. 

 As for proffering assistance, I fear it never enters 

 his head. He don't know who it is, and mortal 

 and imminent peril on the part of a dear friend 



